It is known to provide the thermal management of a vehicle passenger compartment by means of a heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning installation arranged in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Such a heating, ventilating and or air-conditioning installation comprises a housing that delimits a circulation canal for an airflow that is intended to be diffused into the passenger compartment. A heat exchanger is disposed in the circulation canal in order to modify the temperature of the airflow before it is diffused into the passenger compartment, depending on a command fixed by an occupant of the vehicle. Such a housing also comprises a distribution system that channels the airflow into various regions of the passenger compartment, in particular a region disposed at a windscreen of the vehicle, and a lower region, a median region or an upper region of the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
The housing of the heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning installation is installed in the passenger compartment, between an instrument panel of the vehicle and a wall separating the passenger compartment and an engine compartment of the vehicle.
The propulsion of the vehicle can be ensured by a combustion engine or by a hybrid engine or fully electric motor.
However, the heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning installations that are known from the prior art are not appropriate for the thermal management of the passenger compartment of an electric vehicle. Specifically, the autonomy of such electric vehicles is conditioned at least in part by an energy source formed for example by a battery.
Furthermore, for the comfort of the occupants of the vehicle, it is desirable for the internal space of the passenger compartment to be as large as possible. However, the overall dimensions of the vehicle are defined so as to correspond to specific uses. In particular, for urban usage, the dimensions of the vehicle are reduced.
In such a configuration, in order to maintain an acceptable level of comfort, in particular for a vehicle for urban usage, it is desirable to reduce the size of certain components, for example the instrument panel. Such a reduction in size thus makes it impossible to position a heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning installation as is known from the prior art.
In addition, in an electric vehicle, the heating function is provided by an electric radiator, in particular a high-voltage electric radiator. The use of such an electric radiator is associated with restrictions relating to the safety of persons, so as to avoid any risk of electrocution of occupants of the vehicle.
Finally, in order to provide optimal comfort for the occupants, it is necessary to provide an additional stratification function that makes it possible to create a difference in temperature between two air-outlet openings so as to diffuse the airflow into two different regions of the passenger compartment, in particular between the air-outlet opening of the lower region and the air-outlet opening of the median region of the passenger compartment of the vehicle, at different temperatures.
In order to take into account the drawbacks and restrictions described in detail above, the subject of the present invention is thus a thermal conditioning installation for a vehicle, in particular an electric vehicle, allowing aerothermal adjustment of an airflow intended to be diffused into a passenger compartment of the vehicle, comprising at least one heat treatment module that is able to thermally treat the airflow, and a distribution module that is able to distribute the airflow in the passenger compartment. In addition, the heat treatment module comprises a single means for heating the airflow intended to be diffused into the passenger compartment, said heating means being formed by an electric radiator.
Furthermore, the thermal conditioning installation comprises a bypass duct comprising a downstream opening disposed downstream of the electric radiator and an upstream opening disposed upstream of the electric radiator.
In addition, advantageously, the thermal conditioning installation comprises at least one air distribution chamber disposed downstream of the electric radiator.
Preferably, the air distribution chamber is arranged in the distribution module.
In particular, the distribution module comprises at least one “footwell” distribution canal and an “aeration” distribution canal, which are disposed downstream of the air distribution chamber.